


konbini

by Vitali (exocara)



Series: After Sochi [3]
Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, M/M, brief mentions of yuri and celestino
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-03
Updated: 2018-01-03
Packaged: 2019-02-27 19:48:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,258
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13255386
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/exocara/pseuds/Vitali
Summary: In which Yuuri panics thinking about Viktor thinking about Yuuri following him around. Which Yuuri isn’t.Spoiler alert: Viktor’s the one doing the following.Set after Sochi.





	konbini

 

_ Present _

Yuuri had a list of places detailing where he did not wish to be. A convenient store might not have been one of them but Yuuri was always updating that list. 

**From: Yuuri** ****  
**To: Phichit** **  
** _ Door’s locked. I think the cashier went out for break _ . 

It was a little after eight in the evening and Yuuri was locked in a convenience store in Japan. Due to one miracle or another, he had managed to qualify for Four Continents and subsequently Worlds, despite his disastrous showing at the Grand Prix, and so now he was in Saitama a day before the competition and locked in a convenience store. 

Yuuri’s phone vibrated and he glanced down to see that Phichit had replied him. 

**From: Phichit** ****  
**To: Yuuri** **  
** _ youre gonna die in there _

Seeing Viktor Nikiforov round the corner of the aisle and pause when he caught sight of Yuuri, Yuuri couldn’t help but agree. 

-o- 

_ 18 hours _

Yuuri knew he was staying on the same floor as Viktor Nikiforov; he had known because he had overheard Yakov checking into the hotel. The only saving grace Yuuri had was that Viktor hadn’t been with Yakov when Yakov was checking in. Yuuri was pretty sure that if Viktor looked at him one more time with unrecognising eyes and a bright camera-smile on his face, asking if Yuuri wanted a picture like he was some sort of simple fan and not another competitor, Yuuri would break and bomb Worlds much worse than he bombed the Grand Prix Finals. 

If Yuuri had his way, he wouldn’t see Viktor until it was time for the skate. In fact, if Yuuri had his way, he wouldn’t see  _ anyone _ at all until it was time for the skate. If he took off his glasses, he wouldn’t even need to see anyone  _ during _ the skate, which was much better. 

Just as Yuuri contemplated the pros and cons of simply dropping his glasses onto the floor and grinding it to dust beneath his feet, he heard someone call out “Yuuri!” 

Reflexively, he turned to see the one person he really did not want to see: Viktor Nikiforov. From the corner of his eye, he saw blonde hair and realised that Viktor was calling for Yuri Plisetsky and not him, Katsuki Yuuri. Who would even call for him? 

“I’ll be going up first,” Yuuri told Celestino, grabbing a set of the keys and making a beeline for the lift. The wheels on Yuuri’s luggage had jammed on the carpet floor and while Yuuri could simply stop to adjust them, he chose to drag the luggage behind him like he dragged his failures and crippling anxiety. It felt symbolic, somehow. Or maybe Yuuri what was feeling was the effects of going approximately 19 hours without sleep. 

“Yuuri!” he heard Viktor call out again with a bit more force. Yuuri didn’t turn because he was not a fool and he would not turn around a third time to see that Viktor was calling Yuri Plisetsky and not him. 

He entered the lift which was, thankfully, empty and quickly (but discreetly) jabbed the close button a few times. 

Before the door closed, Yuuri could have sworn that Viktor was looking straight at him but Yuuri chalked it up to his lack of sleep and wishful thinking. 

-o- 

_ 12 hours _

Yuuri and Celestino had checked into the hotel at around five in the morning. After a short name, Yuuri woke up to see that it was already past eleven and that he was hungry. Celestino was still sleeping but that wasn’t a problem; Celestino already knew that before competitions Yuuri would rather dart out to buy takeout and then scamper back into the hotel room, isolating himself as he ate, instead of going to sit at a restaurant. It was one of the ways Yuuri coped with the competition stress and Celestino accepted it, knowing that the only way to lure Yuuri out of his room would be to have Phichit Chulanont there. 

Phichit, regrettably, was back in Detroit. 

And so Yuuri was going to steal away like a thief in the night, despite it being noon, and get takeout from a hole-in-the-wall restaurant not too far away from the hotel. It was small and out of the way and mostly unknown by tourists which was perfect for Yuuri. Also, the owners don’t know a thing about ice skating, which was a definite plus. 

Yuuri power walked across the hotel lobby, keeping his head down, but he still couldn’t help but notice a flash of silver hair. Was Viktor going out to get lunch too? As Yuuri was reaching the door, he couldn’t help but glance at Viktor, only to see Viktor waving in his general direction. Yuuri looked around and saw that there was no one around him. Could it be that Viktor was waving to him? 

Yuuri shyly waved back and Viktor’s entire face lit up like a Christmas tree. 

And then Yuuri slipped out of the hotel door and continued power walking towards the restaurant. 

-o- 

_ 11 hours _

The restaurant had a sizeable crowd that day, which meant that Yuuri had to wait a little longer for his food. However, it also meant that Yuuri could feel at ease being just One Of The Ones Among The Crowd and so he felt it was a pretty good tradeoff. 

Yuuri waited for his order at the corner of the restaurant, a carefully calculated position in which no one could see him if they weren’t trying to find him and he was very much out of the way of any and all serving staff. 

Of course, having others be unable to see you more often that not means you cannot see them as well and so it takes quite a while for Yuuri to realise that someone was angrily marching his way. It was a small blonde someone that Yuuri had technically only met once, but once was enough to make an impression. 

“Your food is done. Thank you for your patronage,” a waiter told Yuuri. Yuuri thanked them back and quickly grabbed his food, speeding away just in time to avoid contact with one Yuri Plisetsky. 

-o- 

_ 9 hours _

It was time for Yuuri to practice on the ice, which meant that he should be focused wholeheartedly on practice. Unfortunately, he was not. Instead, he was thinking about why Yuri Plisetsky looked so pissed. He thought long and hard, flubbing a few quads along the way, and came to a conclusion based on a few facts. 

  1. When Yuuri checked in that morning, Viktor Nikiforov was there. 
  2. When Yuuri went out for lunch, Viktor Nikiforov was there, in the hotel lobby. 
  3. When Yuuri was in the restaurant, Viktor Nikiforov was, if Yuuri hadn’t imagined that glimpse of silver hair, also there. 
  4. Yuri Plisetsky was Viktor’s rinkmate and hence it was his duty as a brother forged in blood and ice to protect Viktor. 
  5. Yuuri had been coincidentally around Viktor too many times in the past few hours for it to be truly coincidental from an outsider point of view. 
  6. Viktor might have thought that Yuuri was stalking him and told Yuri Plisetsky which meant that
  7. Yuri Plisetsky was going to murder him with his own ice skates and string him up with the flags during Worlds. 



This conclusion did make Yuuri feel less confused, but not any better. 

Practice did not go well for Yuuri. 

-o- 

_ 4 hours _

Dinner time during a competition always meant Socialisation Time™ where Yuuri had to sit beside Celestino as he talked to other coaches. Sometimes skaters approached Yuuri but as time went on and Yuuri showed himself to be completely unapproachable, they grew rarer and rarer. No doubt they were forming some sort of club to mock Yuuri, which was honestly quite fair. Yuuri often saw a bunch of them sitting in a group, smiling and giggling and looking away whenever Yuuri caught them glancing at him. 

Yuuri really did not like Socialisation Time™. 

It was halfway through his bland but dietary-adherent dinner that he suddenly remembered the whole ‘Viktor Nikiforov Thinks I’m Following Him Around’ debacle. With incredible apprehension, Yuuri looked around the dining hall and saw Viktor Nikiforov himself sitting two tables away, glancing at Yuuri and looking away in a manner very similar to the skaters who grouped together to mock Yuuri. That was enough to make Yuuri feel bad but what Yuuri saw next chilled him to the bone: 

Yuri Plisetsky, sitting right next to Viktor, staring at Yuuri with murder in his eyes and a knife in his hand. 

Celestino must have noticed Yuuri’s sudden drop in mood because he whispered to Yuuri, “When you finish your dinner you can go upstairs to rest.” 

“Thank you, Ciao Ciao,” Yuuri muttered back and proceeded to shovel his entire dinner into his mouth in under ten minutes.  

-o-

_ 30 minutes _

Yuuri was panicking, which was not new. He was glad he wasn’t panicking as much as he had a few hours ago because Celestino managed to calm him down a bit but it was some time after 11pm and Celestino was asleep. 

Yuuri also had the strangest craving for chocolate, the specific type of chocolate you could only find in groceries or convenience stores. 

And so that leads us to our situation now. 

-o- 

_ Present _

“I swear I am not stalking you,” Yuuri said just as Viktor opened his mouth. 

“I,” Viktor began and then he heard what Yuuri said.  _ “What?” _

“I know how it looks like,” Yuuri said, curling in on himself. He wished he could curl himself out of existence. “But I promise you they were all coincidences, I wasn’t  _ planning _ to seek you out or go wherever you were going, it just happened that I was there.” 

“I know,” Viktor said. 

“So please, please don’t ask Plis-- wait, you know?” Yuuri stared at Viktor with wide eyes. 

“Yeah.” Viktor’s gaze skittered away. “That’s because I was the one following you.” 

“Oh.” That made sense. Except it didn’t. Yuuri was still staring, the realisation that he’s probably having a strange stress dream dawning upon him. “Why were you following me around?” 

“I’m sorry,” Viktor told him and, yes, this was obviously a dream because Viktor had no reason to apologise to Yuuri. “I know there’s probably a reason you haven’t texted or called me but I just wanted to know… were you just not interested? I think I deserve an answer, even if it’s just a rejection. I… I won’t mind even if you do reject me, I just need an answer.” 

Yuuri must have been so incredibly stressed to have come up with such a strange dream. 

“There is a reason,” Yuuri heard his mouth saying, “why I haven’t called you, and that is because I don’t have your phone number.” 

“But you do?” Viktor frowned, a little confused. 

“No I don’t, because if I had your number I’d definitely call you.” Yuuri dug out his phone, unlocked it, and handed it over to Viktor. Viktor took it and slowly input his number, as if he couldn’t quite understand what was happening. That wasn’t fair; the Not Understanding Anything Role should be Yuuri’s. 

Viktor handed the phone back to Yuuri. Yuuri took it and immediately called Viktor. Viktor picked up. 

“See? Calling,” Yuuri said into the phone. For some reason, this made Viktor crack up. Yuuri couldn’t help but stare; Viktor’s laugh was beautiful and wondrous and it was even more than what Yuuri expected it to be. 

“You truly are full of surprises,” Viktor told Yuuri. Shouldn’t that be Yuuri’s line? “What happened to the note I gave you?” 

“What note?” Yuuri asked. “I… didn’t receive any note?” 

“Oh. That makes sense.” 

Yuuri then realized that they were two grown adult men facing each other and using phones to communicate. Well, he’s dreamt of weirder. 

They stare at each other, caught in some sort of magnetic pull as they move closer and closer, before the door to the convenience store slams open. They immediately draw back. 

“Oh my god,” Yuuri heard the cashier’s horrified mutter. “There were people inside.” 

“It’s late,” Viktor said with an apologetic look. “I should be getting back.” 

“Yeah,” Yuuri replied. “I should too.” 

Neither of them moved. 

“Oh my god,” Yuuri heard the cashier whisper again. “I locked Katsuki Yuuri in the store.” That snapped him out of his trance quickly and he nodded to Viktor. 

“I’ll call you,” Yuuri said. 

“...yeah,” Viktor replied with a smile. 

-o- 

Perhaps it was due to the nice dream Yuuri had the other night but he managed to place silver during Worlds. And perhaps it was also due to the dream that he managed to talk more than two words, and even hold a conversation, with Viktor Nikiforov after the press conferences and photo taking sessions. 

“Oh,” Viktor said near the end of the day. “Remember to call me, Yuuri!” With a wink, Viktor strode away, ignorant to the fact that he had just completely destroyed Yuuri’s entire world. 

“Call him? Yuuri, you minx, what have you done now?” Chris teased but Yuuri couldn’t hear him. 

_ It wasn’t a dream!!! _

-o- 

Yuuri turned off airplane mode as he and Celestino waited for their luggage. He fiddled with it for a while before putting it up against his ear. The dial tone only rang once before the line was picked up. 

“Hello?” a familiar, Russian accented voice said. 

“Hey,” Yuuri said back. “I did say I would call.” 

**Author's Note:**

> what's up the mood is tired and lonely


End file.
